Doll-A-Day 2023 #285: The Wicked Witch of the West

   Yesterday we saw Glinda, the Good Witch. She got a bit wet during the fire. Well Glinda wasn't alone on that shelf. With her was her arch nemesis, The Wicked Witch of the West. Karma must have been at work, because The Bad Witch fared worse than The Good Witch.

Sorry. I forgot to photograph her with her box lid on.

  We thought for a while that the stuff on that shelf didn't even get wet at all. So it was left while we dealt with other things. When I discovered that it had been doused with water, the witches had already started to mold. Fortunately, their boxes were the worst parts. They are moldy inside and out and between the layers of cardboard they're made of. They're going to have to be thrown away. I don't think Glinda herself even got moldy. But the Wicked Witch, on the other hand...

  The bottom of her dress got a bit moldy. (Once again, she's been sitting here without her box lid, airing out, so sorry for the dust and cat hair.)

  It's a shame too. While she doesn't look anything like Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch...

She's too pretty.

And why is her hair so curly?

... her costume is fairly screen accurate. She has the leg o' mutton sleeves...

...and the lace up bodice.

She even has the little pouch the witch carried.

And of course she ahs her witch hat. Her hat has the long, sheer tail, (or whatever you call it).

One difference from the screen costume though, is that this witch isn't wearing any stockings. As we know from the scene where the Wicked Witch runs down the stairs sneering, "Ring around the rosie, a pocketful of spears...", she was wearing black stockings. 

One really cool item included with the witch is her broom. It's a straw broom, like the real one. You'll have to excuse the look of it. Emma and AJ's cat Arthur, (Our Jimmy, Joey, and Arc's nephew.), stole it out of her box and took it to the living room to play with.

  It's a little skinnier around the part that holds the bristles in, but they got the design right.

        

Even the handle.

  One line of dialogue in the movie that always gets me is where Dorothy asks the Winkie guard if they can have the witch's broomstick, and the Winkie says, "Yes. And take it with you." What? You give it to them, but they have to leave it there? Of course they're going to take it with them. Another thing we always think of when we watch it is my fault. I made a joke when the kids were little and to this day they still repeat it. The heroes are escaping and the witch screams to her guards to chase them: "Half of you go that way, and half of you go this way!' I said, "And the rest of you follow me." (Three 'halves', get it?) 

  Poor Maragret Hamilton. Her agent called her to tell her she had a part in The Wizard of Oz. Hamilton, a former kindergarten teacher who was then 37 years old, and the mother of a little boy, excitedly asked which role. Her agent replied, "The Wicked Witch of course." That's rough, guy. She's your client. Be nice! And when she and her son saw the movie, he was scared of the Wicked Witch!

The particular line this doll is from contained dolls of most of the movie's characters.

  That's the doll for today. Unfortunately I don't have the other characters. But we'll see some other doll tomorrow. See you then.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #284: Glinda the Good Witch

  This isn't the first Glinda the Good Witch I've shown you. (See the other one HERE.) It's not even the first one Mattel has made. But she's a good one. (Well, obviously...)

  

  She could look a lot better though She was on the first landing at the house...not the one the fire was directly off of. This one was down a flight of stairs from that one. But unbeknownst to us, a shelf down there got more of the water than we thought. I found this doll, and a couple of others down there on a shelf, which I had been told didn't get wet. Guess again. They had gotten wet and were molding. This one isn't too bad. The lid and top of her box are the worst parts. Inside the box doesn't seem too bad though. I've had them sitting open getting dry adn hoping the mold would die, which I think it has. She'll still need washed, at least the bottom of her dress. And of course, while she was airing out she has collected some cat hair.

  She is part of the Barbie Collector Pink Label line.

  Here she is without the lid of her box. I only put it back on for the picture. I need to take her out of the box and clean the bottom half of her. The rest of her is fine. They did a pretty good job on her dress. It's a lot more screen accurate than the Hollywood Legends Barbie as Glinda that was made in 1996, or the singing play line Glinda Barbie doll that was made in 1999.

  

  And believe me, I know, because I spent hours with the video frozen on Glinda when I made my second Glinda, costume for Ivy, when she was Glinda for Halloween one year. Emma was Glinda one year too, but I was newer at sewing then, and didn't realize how much fabric it took to make  a really puffy skirt. By the time I made Ivy's dress, I was much better at sewing, and had figured out the volume thing. I also had come across yards and yards of tulle at a yard sale, which I washed up and used for Ivy's costume. (Somewhere on this blog there's picture of Ivy in that dress, when she used it for playing dress up, and had almost outgrown it.) There's a lot to that costume when you really look at it. There's the butterfly thing at her throat, and the one on the bodice, and the one at her hip. 

Butterfly on the sleeve too.

  Her wand isn't accurate, because the shaft was silver, and not glittery.

  Then there is also that awesome crown. I have to admit, there were certain aspects of Ivy's crown that were better than Emma's. For one thing, I thought to use fishing line to make the things the stars float on above the crown. I bought 4th of July decorations and cut the little silver foil stars off and glued them to the fishing line. But overall, Emma's crown was better. I used clear vinyl that comes on huge bolt rolls at the fabric store, and made it a few layers thick so it would stand up. I made the designs out of glue and sprinkled silver glitter on. If I redid it now I would use silver glitter hot glue, because the way I did it, it flaked off over time. Mind you, it lasted through Halloween and Emma wearing it to school for Crazy Hat Day. For one or both of the crowns I sewed rhinestone stuff along the bottom. I don't know what it's called, but it's rhinestone stuff you buy by the yard at the fabric store. I know that on Ivy's I also sewed it along the part where the bodice joins the skirt. If you really look at the movie, there are rhinestones there.

They didn't do as good a job on her hair though. The real Glinda, played by Billie Burke, had thick waves that curled at the bottom.

 

  And honestly, Billie Burke was prettier too.

   In 2014 Mattel produced a Glinda doll for the 75th anniversary of the movie. She had a Billie Burke head sculpt that wasn't too bad. She also had jointed elbows, and her dress and want were a lot like this one, if not a little less screen accurate.

 For this line of dolls they made most of the other characters from the movie. The Winkie guard and flying monkey were great!

  That's today's doll. Come back tomorrow, (as the Wizard said.), and see what doll we're looking at then.

Goodies From the April Doll Show!

    I hope everybody had a good Mother's Day. We saw Fuzz a few days before, and Ivy s at college. They both messaged me though. Emma and I went to spend some time with my sister at a flea market/antique show, since Unsentimental Niece is boycotting her mother. I made a great find I'll show you another time.  Then Emma and I went back to her house and I opened my gifts, and when Ken joined us we had take out from The Cheesecake Factory. Other than all the food places in the town where the flea market was being closed when we tried to get a late lunch, good day.

  The point of this post though, is 'doll show'! There was another doll show the last Saturday in April. I think it was the last of the big Spring doll shows. There are  a couple of others, even farther away, which I probably won't go to. This one was about an hour and 20 minutes from my house. There were lots of beautiful dolls and things, some of which I had seen at previous shows, (and one of those came home with me!) I also got a big surprise! I'll show you one of the things I bought at the show. The other things we'll get to eventually. But, without further ado, here are some of the wonderful sights from the show.

Is the head of that guy on the left a...lightbulb?

  I looked at these Tressy dolls. I particularly liked the one on the left. After circling bck around several times I ended up buying her. 

  Here she is. 

  When I went back to buy her a lady came up and told me I have beautiful hair. There's one I haven't heard in a while! She was an old lady too, and she had beautiful long, wavy grey hair. Gives me hope, as mine is turning from orange to white right now. I keep telling Ken I'm too old for long hair, but she looked good.

What a lovely bunch of babies.

I've shown you that kid on the left before, from a different doll show post. He was holding the same 60's doll.

Here's a close up of some of the babies from the above picture.

These kids were on the edge of the babies picture. So pretty!

Aw! Little boys!

And a pretty girl with articulated wrists.

I think these dolls were from the same booth where I took loads of pictures. Everything that dealer had was gorgeous.

Love the girl top, center. That pink kid on the left you may remember from a previous doll show post. A lot of dolls make return appearances.

More beautiful dolls. Look Raging Moon. There's one of those mumpy looking Terri Lees you want.

This girl was still in Easter mode apparently.

How cute are these guys?! The kid on the llama! Oh my goodness! And there's another kid in Easter mode.

A couple of Shirleys with other pretty girls.

  One lady had some amazing animals and things in her booth. Everybody who walked by fell in love with this camel.

He was made by Hansa. 

And yes, he was every bit as big as he seems! Probably bigger. He was gorgeous! She also had this beautiful bear. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good shot of his tag, so I don't know who he was made by.

  Another gorgeous sight at her booth was this cat!

He is a creation of  artist Candi Taylor.

He's even posable! 

He's jointed at each leg, and has not one, but two joints in his neck. His tail even has an armature in it!

  The same dealer also had this Alice in Wonderland Caterpillar and mushrooms.

It's by Pic-Nic-Bears.

  There was also a beautiful snail.

Then I found out she was supposed to have a bear on her back, but she wouldn't sit up that way so the bear had been sat next to her.

They're Journey and Abella by Diana L. Watts of Dibears.

If you're interested in any of these beauties, you can contact the dealer at: jhollin952@aol.com

  There was another dealer with some animals by Candi Taylor, maker of the fabulous cat. One of them was this donkey. It's so cute!

The same dealer also had this fine lady.

Her neck wrinkles made me uncomfortable!

  One dealer had a display of wonderful new R. John Wright dolls.

I'd love to have an R. John Wright doll, but I'm not rich.

The dolls in the next fourteen pictures were all so wonderful, and all from the same dealer.

My favourite here is the one with the titled head.

This is a fun bunch of little dolls.

This little girl is so cute, and has some real personality.

Beautiful bear.

The little winking guy!

The big ones are Kathe Kruse dolls. Aren't they cute?

This lady was made of wood. Her price, $375, made me feel a little wooden myself!

Beautiful animals.

  I really love these cloth faced dolls. I was just reading something today on how to make a pressed cloth face doll. I'd like to try it some time. Not that I have any belief that I can come anywhere near these guys! 

I actually photographed this girl early on, although she was at this booth, where I photographed all these other dolls later. I obviously liked her, and took her picture. Later I bought her 'sister' at another booth.

If any of these gorgeous dolls appeal to you, the dealer seems to sell on Ruby Lane:

  Moving on to other dealers, look at the face on this guardsman.

Very cute old cloth dolls.

These pressed cloth face dolls are so cute. The prices were crazy expensive though.

More pressed cloth face dolls, with a Poor Pitiful Pearl lurking on the right.

Check out the little girl on the right, wearing the plaid skirt.

There she is again. I guess she's supposed to be Scottish. Look at her attitude. She was great, but her price had been torn off, and I was afraid to ask!

The girl in plaid is a Toni. You can see her hair curling set behind her. That blonde girl is really posing. Next to her is a Mary Hartline, with some heavy duty eye makeup. Next to her is a Dianna Effner Mary Mary Quite Contrary, made by Knowles for Ashton Drake. I don't know who the little girl on the end is, but she's sweet.

Is this an Alice?

Quite a variety of Wizard of Oz Dorothy dolls. The top one , far left is a cloth faced Madame Alexander. I think the one top, far right, is a Tonner. She seems to have been redressed though. The short one with the red ribbon on her pinafore looks like a Madame Alexander. The one with the slightly yellowed face is the 1987 Dorothy by Hamilton Presents. Emma had the set of  Dorothy, Tin Man, Lion, and Scarecrow. They all came with stands that had a plastic base that looked like a piece of the Yellow Brick Road, and they all connected together. The likenesses were all pretty good really. (The Wicked Witch, with we never got, was really amazing. I wanted that one!) Unfortunately the Dorothy yellows.

  There were also these guys. Pretty scary, but fairly accurate underneath the cartoonishness. I would like to have the set. but it's way out of my price range. I do have the one though, the Paul, which I got cheap in a box of auction stuff. I was the only bidder.

George's lipstick is a bit Marilyn Monroe.

  The tall doll in the hat is another of my favourites. I didn't know who she was. Her tag says she's Barbara Lou, an Effanbee doll from the late 30's.

  Terri Lee, and an early R. John Wright doll that was only named J1. That reminds me of when we were having Fuzzy. We had referred to Emma during pregnancy, as 'Sedam Junior'. So when we were having Fuzzy we started referring to the baby as 'Jr. 2', which quickly got shortened to 'J2'. Emma always called Fuzz that until we started using the name 'Fuzzy'.

This doll is one of those beautiful shiny compo babies I've been so fond of recently. She was in her original box. Her clothes were original, but I'm not sure she hadn't been repainted.

Lots of cartoon characters here: Popeye, Dopey, Nancy and Sluggo, Pinocchio, Little Lulu and Tubby, a king I recognize but can't remember the name of, and Felix the Cat.

These dolls are different. They're 1967 dolls called PeePul Pals. They came in little house shaped boxes. The dolls themselves are kind of like Pose Dolls.

  This pretty child is Betsy McCall. This is the larger version of Betsy, by American Character. She's 29" tall, and was made in 1961. These are her original clothes too. She was nice. 

I considered this little tiny bisque girl with jointed arms . She has the best face, but when she's standing, her head is tilted down so far you can't see her face. Instead of buying her, I took her picture. 

  I ran into the same little Betsy McCall...

This picture is from the other show.

... and the Whimsies Tillie Talker that I had seen at a previous show.

This is from the other show too. Since I had already photographed them, I didn't photograph them again.

 The Whimsies dealer dropped Tillie's price, which made Tillie and Betsy the the same price. Both were very tempting. They were also right across the aisle from each other! I stood between them trying to decide what to do! Betsy was a really good price already, due to a torso joint that wasn't joining properly. She was still more than I wanted to spend. I was torn. I decided to go out to the car and call Ken and ask him to tell me no on either! Of course, he's Ken, so he won't do that anyway. But also, on the way out I remembered to stop at the board by the admission table to see if I had, against all reason, because I don't win anything, won a door prize---and I had! My name was on the board! I was allowed to pick anything I wanted from the prize table.  There wasn't anything I wanted, so I decided to try to choose the most valuable thing, so I could sell it and make enough money to justify buying either Tillie or Betsy. I chose the Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley doll from the 'The Sun Never Sets on a Legend' series. I don't like Elvis Presley, (I like Elvis Costello.), but I do like dolls of real people that actually look like them, and this doll is pretty good. If I get stuck with him, I can live with it.  

  Ken suggested I ask both dealers if they would mark their dolls down any more. I knew Tillie's wouldn't, because she already had knocked $10 off for me. I wasn't even going to ask. I went back in and had another close look at Betsy. The lady dealer who had been there before was gone and the male dealer was there. His first reaction to me looking at Betsy was to offer a discount! He asked if the new price would make a difference and I said, "Yes! That makes me make a decision!" So, even though she's not quite a red head, I'm glad to have my beautiful Betsy! I'll do a photo session with her in a few days. I'll also show you the other dolls I got. Right now I have to go mow my overgrown yard!